Mouth That Refreshes Your Spirit

This is just a short clip about Pastor Joseph Prince speaking engagements from January to March 2008; but every times I watch this short clip, the words of God that flown through his mouth just refreshes my spirit. I presume this is called anointing.

Joseph Prince Speaking Engagements

Pastor Joseph Prince is a precious "Giant Pearl" that shines out the mystery of Christ. His revelation of grace just bring me closer to Christ.

We're The Pearl Of Great Value...!!!

Hi there, it has been three months since I started this blog… Come to think of it, I had a lot of fun and joy in sharing with you my relationship with our Savior. Most of all, the Lord has opened up this new way for us to meet and I really appreciate my gracious friends who have responded with delightful, encouraging comments from different countries… This reminded me of the joy of the Finder in Luke Chapter 15… and it is my honor to have this privilege to tap on to that joy and be of one heart with Him in sharing His joy…

Friends, I have received a fresh revelation and I am so so so excited to share with you all…!!!

Once we were like any other ordinary Christian, considered as the hidden treasure in the field. But the Merchant comes to look for fine pearl; and our Lord by His grace and mercy, has handpicked us one by one among this hidden treasure. We have been handpicked and identified as pearl of great value because He has chose to enlighten us with His grace. We are now a shining pearl because pearl by itself is already a finished product; and those who have been enlightened by grace are the suitable "treasure" in magnifying His finished work. We shine like a pearl of great value because His finished work shines from inside of us. Praise God…!!!

Matthew 5:14~16 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

We are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden! It is only through His finished work that our good deeds can bring praises to our Father in heaven.

So by His grace, let yourself shine like a pearl of great value…!!! He loves us so much that He has personally handpicked us and we are no more an ordinary Christian. We are so precious to Him and we are the apple of His eye…!

Hallelujah…!!!

Shalom Kuching City...!!!

Street of Kuching City

The New State Assembly Hall

Hilton Hotel by the Sarawak River

River Cruise

Kuching is celebrating her 20th Anniversary as a city in the month of August. This celebration will end on 31th of August with nationwide celebration of Malaysia Independent Day.

Shalom Kuching City..!!!

Don't Make Him A Liar (Part 5)

The mansion that Jesus mentioned in John 14:2 has been used as a candy to motivate believers with their “work” of life in Christ. The type and the structures of our mansions in heaven are very much depending on our behavior and the quantity of our work as a Christian on earth. A good and hard working Christian will be awarded a big and beautiful mansion while the lazy and worldly Christian might have only the pillars. So, spread the good news and save souls to secure your mansion in heaven... sound familiar?

One day (that was 5 years ago…), my younger son Adrian came back from his youth gathering and asked me a question… This question gave me a mixed feeling; i.e. I was scared that fears had been put into him and on the other hand, I marvelled that he indeed had a child like faith to ask from his father or "Father" to be precise.

He asked, “Daddy, can I live with you in your mansion when I go to heaven?”

Obviously, he had been motivated by his leaders to do the “good work” for his Saviour, and he definitely had not done any “good work” yet to deserve a mansion for himself. This is a classic example of the instinct of a human being to seek the sense of security; and I said to him, “Blessed are you Adrian, for this not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven! The mansion is given to you by grace from our Lord and you can never earn it.”

He replied, “I know daddy, I scare you don’t know…!”

Praise the Lord, even my son at his young age then, knew the truth and had the faith to utter such a divine inspired question. He knew how to ask from his “Father” …

Jesus said in John 14:1-4, right after He prophesied on Peter that he would disown Him three times. “Let not you heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

How sweet and pure are these verses when they come out from our Lord's mouth... No trace of manipulation, no condition and no string attached but love and affirmation.

Please don’t make Him a Liar…

Lord, Can I Help You?

Jim and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking pass the hospital’s swimming pool, Jim suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there… Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled Jim out.


When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act, she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered Edna to be mentally stable.


When she went to tell Edna the news, she said,
“Edna, I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is you're being discharged; since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and save the life of another patient, I have concluded that your act displayed sound mindedness… and the bad news is … Jim hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry… he’s dead.”


Edna replied,
“He didn't hang himself; I put him there to dry....”
“Can I go home now…?'

This is not a real story; but a secular joke circulating through e mail. Well… have you heard of this joke before? If you had, never mind, my focus is not on the joke but on your reaction after you have heard of it.

Man… I laughed, I had a good laugh... I even shared with my friends and we laughed together… but the Lord intervened by putting a thought in my mind in the midst of our laughter, i.e.…

“The accuser of the Brethren” has his influence over legalistic and religious teaching. As such, a legalistic and religious mind is as good as a mind that is “mentally challenged”. Under that sort of legalistic and religious influence, we ourselves tend to put people to dry without the understanding of the knowledge of God and still we thought we are helping God... and Lord, can I help You, is always our cry...!

It is sad to see that there are many Christians today still labouring to please God through their effort. These are sincere people but they just trying to reach God through their own approach… earning their righteousness through their good deeds and law keeping… without the knowledge of God.

And our Father God by His grace and mercy does not look at us the same way we looked at Edna. Despite of our “insanity”, He is still faithful and patient to show us His love, guides us and leads us out of our" insanity". I think this is grace…the unearned, undeserved and unmerited favor from God.

I was a victim like Jim in this story, but I was “put to dry” by legalism and religion. I was put to dried out completely… Praise God for His dew of grace that moisturized me and His dew refreshed me... and I see His Grace!

I See Grace

Yes...! I bought this sticker for my car! I see Grace; for I have not seen anything better than Grace in my life.

Don't Make Grace A Doctrine!

I have a brother from a different congregation whom God has placed in my life. We work in the same Company but not the same Section and we grow in grace together. We share what God had shown us from time to time and we would come together at His appointed time to share and encourage each other. By His grace, though we are of different congregation, we have the same flow and receive same revelation from the Lord. Our Company vehicle that is allocated to me use to be our little church.

Last week we had a change to meet for breakfast; and he shared with me about his own encounter among his new found circle of fellowship; and they are having their own Bible study session. I was told that a group of youngsters have been trained to preach grace. They emphasis on memorizing the Bible verses and they are good at that. They are very sharp to identify grace in their sharing and they are very quick in quoting Bible verses. The thing is, after a few sessions of attending their Bible study session; he sensed that they tend to beat around the bush with their sharing. The “life” is not there…

That was what he meant and I would agree with him because I could not smell the “aroma”of grace. It gave me a feeling of a pre-programmed bible study session with a little bit of the aroma of legalism.

Can this be another coincidence again? The Lord just led him to me and allowed him to share this matter with me right after my post on “New Wine & the New Wineskin”.

My peace was disturbed, and these are the questions that rose up from the inside of me…

- Is Grace a Person or a doctrine?
- My goodness, if memorizing Bible verses is the requirement, and I am not good in memorize Bible verses, can I still receive grace from Jesus?
- Can we kick aside Jesus and share grace with others?
- If preaching grace of God can be taught, can this be another “religion”?
- Can a man train a man to know grace?

My goodness, as I look back, I don’t think I had known the verses first before I got to know grace. The verses in the Bible did not really change my life; in fact, they bind me. It was Jesus, who had changed my life. It was when I got to know Jesus then I started to know His grace and then the Bible verses. The Bible verses then started to set me free…

Men in their fallen nature can never know grace without the help of the Holy Spirit because grace is divine in its origin. Men can never know grace if they could not believe Jesus loves them. Men can never know grace if Jesus did not finish His work on the cross. Men can never know grace if Jesus was not glorify. Men can never know grace if the Holy Spirit is not given. Men can never know grace if they do not believe that their sin is forgiven (past, present and future). Men can never know grace if they do not know that they are righteous in God’s eye. Men can never know grace if they do not know they are in Christ…

2 Peter 1:2 ~ Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Grace is a Person; don’t make grace a doctrine… If Grace is a doctrine, this will end up in another form of religion…

A Word Of Thanks, Again!

Hey there, fellow grace-walkers in SIB Grace, See The World Through His Heart has been awarded as “Best Christian Blog of The Week” on 24th August 2008, by Cyberanger of Singapore.

Remember at the end of July, I was led to write on a post called “A Word of Thanks” for my fellow grace-walkers to thank them for their support; and William has been a blessing to me by registering a Domain name “alanhiu.com”; and since then this blog has been transferred to this Domain.

I have said in that post that I was looking to the Lord for leading in the month of August and as I looked back, it must be for real… The issues I have touched on were of no ordinary issue in the body of Christ today e.g. issues like Holy Communion and Tithing. At times, I would still ask myself that who am I to write on these issues, especially on tithing…

I was attacked emotionally since the posting of Tithing. There was a struggle between my flesh and my spirit; on whether I have done the right thing, and condemning thoughts kept flashing over my mind. It was until “Cyberanger”, who has wrote a comment on this post that I began to realized that I have followed my flesh and embarked on the wrong tree again, i.e. the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I should have let the Spirit leads me to the Tree of Life.

As for Cyberanger, I do not know how you find my blog, why you visit my blog at that particular time and why you chose to write your comment on that post. Is it a coincidence again? Yes, I would think so, divinely coincide, again!!! Cyberanger, You are truly a blessing everywhere you surf… Thank you for your recognition and most of all, Our Lord Jesus Himself affirms and recognizes the preaching of His grace. By His grace, I am honored to receive this award.

Hey folks, we have been placed in the heart of our Lord to receive the mystery of Christ which has not been make known to men in other generations. May your heart be encouraged and rejoice…!!!

All glory to our Lord Jesus.

Why Did He Send That Flood?

Many Christian are confused that if God is really good, why He would send flood to judge the world during Noah‘s time and killed all the “babies”, “children”, “women” and “men” of that age. If only we can know the truth behind, we will know that He is righteous, merciful and full of love for us to execute such an act and He is jealously protecting us, the human race.

Mind you, there is a spiritual war out there between the heavenly forces and the evil forces ever since Adam was created in the Garden of Eden. After God had pronounced the curse on the serpent that the woman’s Off Spring would crush his head, it was the beginning of the serpent’s strategy to contaminate or influence the gene of the first born of human race so as to stop the existence of this woman’s Off Spring. We know that this woman’s seed is Christ. Cain, the first off spring of Adam, was led to kill his own brother and this was the first murder in the history of mankind. The devil used the same strategy on Baby Moses and Baby Jesus by influencing the kings of their age to kill all the babies under the age of two years old. Poor human race is always the victim...

Before we move on, let us make ourselves clear with all these terms in the Bible.

i) Sons of God is referred to the fallen angels; and angels are the direct creation from God.
ii) Adam is also son of God as he was also the direct creation of God.
iii) Sons of man is referred to sons of Adam.
iv) The Son of God refers to Jesus as He is the definite Son of God.
v) Nephilim is Giant produced by sons of God and daughters of man and they are not human race. They were the off spring of the fallen angels.

It was about a thousand years from the time of Adam and it was during the time of Noah that the world was extremely corrupted. The sons of God (the fallen angels) took on human forms and co-habited with the daughter of man as wife. This illegal union gave birth to the tribe called Nephilim and they were the giants of that day. The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. That was the reason why the Lord was grieved with man for giving themselves away to the fallen angles. His heart was filled with pain and He decided to wipe off all the wickedness on the earth. The world was so corrupted that all the men at that time were the result of the satanic contaminated and they were not human but giants.

Among the wickedness, only Noah was found righteous because he followed God’s way of salvation. He and his family were the only pure Adamic stock leave during that time of the age. God placed them in the ark and saved them from the judgmental flood and preserved the mankind from satanic contamination. These fallen angels who had violated the Law of Genesis were cast into the gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah with the rainbow in the cloud that never again will all life be cut off by the waters of flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

It is the mercy and the love of our God that He jealously protected us from any impurity from satanic contamination. He could have just let go and let the Book of Genesis ended at Chapter 5. But no, He is a faithful and a righteous God. The Bible says His word will not return void. As He prophesied that the woman’s seed will crush Satan’s head, he will see to it that it happened just as He had said.

Today, He has promised that He will remember our sin no more and He had promised He will never leave us nor forsake us. With all these promises, He has made His will clear when He sent His begotten Son Jesus Christ to died for us on the cross. If saving us is His will, how can we escape from this Salvation if we have already accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour? We can rest assure that He will help us and see us through to eternity.

He sent that flood to judge the "giants" of the world because He saw us. He sent that flood because He loves you… and me.

Isaiah 54: 9-10 "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuked you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed."

New Wine & the New Wineskin

The first sermon I heard in my first Sunday Service as a Christian was about the new wine taken from the book of Matthew chapter 9. This new wine was illustrated as the new things that God is going to do in our midst and since it is a new thing, nobody will be able to tell what this new thing is about. It can be bad thing and it can be good thing but it will be a new thing…

It took me three years to understand this message through revelation from the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, there are still many who do not understand what this new wine means. Of course, this new wine is the grace of God and we are the wineskin. Hi wineskin!

When grace started to revolutionize my life, I miraculously began to understand the truth according to the knowledge of God. The veil has been taken away; and I realized that the conducts in my environment were totally contradicted to the revelation I have received. We were all constrained under the same church environment, receiving the same messages from the same pulpit, but the revelations were totally different. I was somehow Christ conscious while they were self conscious.

The condemning nature of this old wineskin (me) started to manifest by inwardly judging others, criticizing about everything like, people’s intellectual, behavior, the sermons from the pulpit and everything that are not inline with what I have received. I was eager to make clear what the truth should be but to no avail; nobody could understand me. Even my Pastor said I was diverted and not flowing with him in the same spirit. To them, I was a sheep that has gone astray; I had become a goat, and a child who eat the neighbor’s food. I was brought to the “Jerusalem Council” a few times by my immediate leaders for not being obedience.

This is why the Bible says the skins will burst and the wine will run out. I felt like I was under such a “bursting” situation because I was using the law that is inside of me to magnify the grace that I received. My Lord is always faithful. He revealed to me that I need to balance myself; just like a car with its front wheels off-balanced would cause the steering wheel to vibrate vigorously. These wheels need to be balanced by replacing the leads of the same weight. My Lord even went to the extent of causing the wheels of my car to be off balanced and shown me the truth he wanted to bring across. I needed to balance myself through the renewal of my mind. If not, this wineskin will be ruined.

The Lord affirmed me that He understood my situation and He is always pleased to help me to renew my mind. He wanted me to see from His Heart that He is gracious and full of love for every one. He is full of love for you and me. He is full of love even to those who are against His grace, or even against Him. He loved the Pharisee but not the Pharisaic spirit. He is just full of love… He loves Saul as much as Paul and He is the One who transformed Saul into Paul. He has times for all of us…

We are to continuously receiving "new wine" as we grow in grace. We need to continuously letting the Spirit to renew our minds so that we will not be an old wineskin and we can continue to contain the new wine.

Matthew 9:17b …. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Tithing

Though the term “tithing” could only be found in the Bible… to date, tithing is still remain sensitive and is the most debated issue in the body of Christ.

If only the truth can be revealed, tithing is actually a privilege granted to a believer and it is closely associated with sowing in the Bible. “Sowing and reaping” is the Kingdom system whereas; the system of “buying and selling” is from the world.

We are able to know the number of seeds in an apple, but we can never know the number of apples in a seed. Unless we sow the seed, a seed will still remain as a seed. When a seed is sown, it will grow to become a tree! So whenever we sow, we are to expect a harvest.


If we are still a non believer, what we are giving is not a gift to God; it is a repayment of debts. It’s a far cry from being considered as tithing because we cannot give to our Creditor, while we still owe the debt that we could not pay. Our Heavenly Father, offered up His begotten Son Jesus Christ, paid not only our debts, but the debts of the whole world. It only took us a belief away to be debt free from sins, sicknesses, curses, poverty… and you name it. As a debt free individual, a believer and sons or daughters of God, we have been placed in the prestigious position to give instead of paying debt!

In the midst of my road to Emmaus, I too, have all sorts of silly Q&A sessions with our Lord. These are those silly questions… (Mind you, a lot of times His threw questions back to me instead of answering my questions…)

Me: “Do I still have to tithe in the New Covenant? Or under the grace dispensation, do I really have to tithe?”
Lord: “I AM not a God under an old or a new covenant. I AM above the Covenants and I am the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. You are tithing to God not to the covenants…”
Me: “???... Ok”

Me: “Do I have to give the net or the gross?”
Lord: “Are you not pleased to see that you can tithe more? Have you realized that the more you can tithe means more is your income? You are now tithing out of your income; not tithe to increase your income. If to tithe less is your wish, then I will supply you with less seed so that you can tithe less.”
Me: “The gross, Lord” I did not feel condemn, I laugh instead with a warm sensation in my heart… Praise Him!

Me: “Will I be 10% poorer after I have tithed? I can actually do quit a lot of thing with this 10% You know....”
Lord: “Who have made you focus on the 10% instead of the 90% that you have?”
Me: “???… Ok.”

A truth is always has to be built on Jesus’ finished work. It was only when I have been enlightened by grace that I started to understand God actually had shown us a very powerful example. He gave up His begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the First Fruit and the best from Heaven, to the world. He redeemed all that Adam had lost and now, receiving multitudes of sons and daughters through the death of Jesus on the cross.

With this revelation, I understand sin is already a settled issue to God and I am now totally free from debt. God has put me in the prestigious position of giving instead of paying. I understand that I have already been blessed with every spiritual things in heavenly realm in Christ, so tithing become a worship and a thank giving. It is no more a mean for me to force God to bless me. I am amazed to realize that the figure of my tithe is increasing. Praise Him…

I like an illustration used by Pastor Joseph Prince on tithing. A man asked him, “Do Christian need to tithe?” And he just gave a very cool answer; “Does a husband needs to kiss his wife?” Cool… Sound very much like our Lord; using a question to answer a question…

Tithing is a relationship not a requirement; it is not even a regulation or even a law. We tithe because He is alive…

Hebrews 7:8 ~ Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.

Definitely we don’t give to the dead right?

Visit www.joyfultoons.com for more joyful cartoon

Don't Make Him A Liar (Part 4)

If God is for us, who can be against us..., but when God is against us, who can save us? You better know what you are doing...and you better be careful of what you are doing or even saying... The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God... What more to say you men of flesh! You better get yourself right with God or else, you will be left behind....

The congregation were silence... heads were down and low all over... Can you believe that these words are actually sounded from the pulpit?

The evil one is the script writer and he is behind all this conspiracy in many churches today. He is just happy that preachers are willing to cooperate with him. “Ha, ha, ha... you are under my controooool!”

Can this be real? Is this the God who said,” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”?

Can He be the God whose word and deed are different?

It is unrighteous for God to judge or punish the believers after what Jesus Christ had gone through at Calvary two thousand years ago. All the punishment and judgment of the world had been exhausted on Jesus' body at the cross. The same sin can never be punished twice... Why can’t the law lovers uphold the Law of Double Jeopardy?

Through Jesus’ Finished Work on the cross, anything that is against us, according to the knowledge of God had all been settled at the cross. There are no more barriers between God and us, and He is righteous to pronounce us righteous as He had already poured out all our unrighteousness upon the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is the will of our God that we are saved and made righteous through His begotten Son Jesus. We are now and forever the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and we are the apple of His eye.

Don't make Him a Liar.

The Duck & the Devil

Yesterday I received an e mail about the story of a boy Johnny and his sister Sally. This story is enlightened with new covenant truth. Though this is an old story, but it is a good one...

The Duck & the Devil

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing after lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes'

But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.'

Sally just smiled and said, 'Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help' She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. I love you and you are already forgiven. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you.'

Thought for the day and every day thereafter?

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done, whatever it is now and whatever it will be in future... there is always a devil there to keep throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)... whatever it is... You need to know that Jesus was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and you are already forgiven of all your sin past, present and future.

He is just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave out of you.

My Father can teach my father

I remember there was an afternoon when I sent my father to his church for baptism class. We talked about the subject his church was expounding during the baptism class and I was told that his church expounded more on the history and the structure of the church.

I was eager to take this opportunity to throw him some nugget of truth on grace but I found myself under compulsion as I am his son…You know, his son… Praise God, as I was struggling on how to start with this subject, by the grace of God, my Father in Heaven gave me these sentences to share with him.…

Anyone who preaches more on the history of a church than Jesus is a religion.

Anyone who preaches more on a person than Jesus is also a religion.

Glorifying Him

As a believer, I was taught to glorify God on the first day I stepped into church because my Saviour Jesus had saved me from eternal condemnation.

As a new convert, I learnt as much as I could on how to glorify my Lord. I was constantly reminded that faith without action is dead. So this little piece of “Godly advice” motivated me to perform so as to glorify. I spread the gospel, visited the sick, attended funeral, came to every prayer meetings, never missed a Sunday Service, always punctual in every meetings, tithed to God without fail and abide in all the rules and regulations adhered by the church. The magnification of gifts on me was defined as awards for my obedience and I was warned not to lose these gifts through my disobedience …. I was sort of the “Hebrew of Hebrews” in the Church then …

Despite of all these efforts, my leaders would at times, purposely ill treat me just to see if I was loyal and obedient. I was very determined to excel and with my perseverance, I told myself that with all my efforts, I would have no guilt for not glorifying my Lords. Who else can make it to heaven if I fail to make it? I was proud of what I was doing, though I looked humble….? My fresh was very pleased with me then, but the fellow in me, my inner man struggled…..

One day, my inner man told me that I have served the wrong Jesus; this “Jesus” I have been serving was not the Jesus Who saved me… I was puzzled but my spirit was refreshed. It was my inner man that led me to seek the Lord Who saved me. (A person still has to seek because he can not believe in the Light that he received.) It was at this stage that the grace of God started to impact on me. I found my First Love and the rest is history.

Do we really have to be taught to glorify our Lord?

Whenever I recall of all those self righteousness and religious activities, the passage described by Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians slap me right on my face. I felt ashamed and the self righteousness I got from my effort really stunk like dung. I am glad that He has put this dung at the foot of the Vine and this branch, has bore the fruit of righteousness. Hallelujah…..

Can we glorify God through our works? What is His opinion? This is the revelation I received from Him by grace and I can boldly declare to you that if we BELIEVE in Him, TRUST in His finished work and RECEIVE His grace with the knowledge of God, we are glorifying Him perfectly. Right believing produced right living and our right living based on the knowledge of God glorifies Him. At this point of time, whatever we do, we are doing out of the overflow of His grace. That is the type of work that glorifies Jesus!

This is what the Apostle Paul said in Roman 10: 2-4 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

We can never know the truth if we do not let Him take away the veil to see His grace. If we are not established in grace, we would not be able to receive His righteousness. Without His righteousness, we cannot glorify Him through our work. We need to live out the truth with the knowledge of God.

Know the truth; and the truth will set you free. When you are free, the freedom in you is glorifying Him!

Grace Revolution

These Grace based car stickers are expected to be on sales at Crossway Bookstore soon. You grace lover, get ready to storm the Kuching City with these grace based car stickers.

What is missing...

A lot of believers have been stoned to death by legalism. There is a call to these believers to come back to the sheep pan. The Good Shepherd miss you....

Just one drop...

Just one drop of Jesus' blood is enough to wash away all our sin. Believe and receive Him....


Jesus is popular....

There is no other god. Only Jesus saves.....

Grace, the best insurance...

Grace, the best insurance for your body, soul and spirit...

I see grace...

When you see grace, you are having the best thing that you can ever have in your life!

Let's us call forth a Grace Revolution in Kuching City while Kuching is now celebrating her 20th anniversary as a city.

Don't Make Him A Liar (Part 3)

Many Christian has been led to misunderstand the ministry of the Holy Spirit especially in the Charismatic circle. By the look of the names of Comforter, Helper, Counselor and Spirit of Truth given to the Holy Spirit, we should have peace in our heart that the Holy Spirit, promised by the Father, given because Jesus was glorified, is sent to comfort, to help and to point us to the truth. If only we can believe with a child like faith of what Jesus said about the ministry of the Holy Spirit instead of believing what religious people have portrayed, we should be able to save ourselves from a lot of unnecessary struggles or even troubles.

The passage from John 16 is a very beautiful passage about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But it has been miss interpreted and has been controversially used to condemn believers.

Let's see how Jesus expounds the truth…

i) When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness and judgment
This verse is the outline of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is sent to convict the world of guilt in regard of sin... But do not jump to the conclusion at this point when we see the word sin. Read on… He also convicts the world of righteousness and judgment. (As far as a religious mind is concerned, the word sin is always more impacting than the word Jesus. Do not forget that Jesus is the Saviour of the world full of sinners.)

ii) In regard of sin, because MEN do not believe in me
Who do not believe in Him? We need to find out who is this MEN Jesus is talking about. He is saying those unbelievers who are still in the world. We were once convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sin before we believed in Jesus. We were in the world and we were not a believer then. It is true that the Holy Spirit convicted us of the guilt of our sin. Because of His conviction, we are a believer now. Hallelujah! So settle this once and for all, the men here is unbelievers. The only sin that the Holy Spirit is convicting the world is the sin of unbelief in what Christ had done for them!

iii) In regard to righteousness , because I am going to the Father, where YOU can see me no longer
Who is this YOU? It is you and me, the believers. Good news… See how beautiful the way Jesus uses words. From MEN, He is now more personal and turns His attention to YOU. He said in righteousness, the Holy Spirit is here to point us (believers) to Jesus because Jesus is no more on this earth but seated at the right hand of the Father. If He is still around, by the look of His eyes, we will know that He loves us and He accepts us. (When we made mistake while we were young, we would look to our parents, by the look of our parent’s eyes, we would know that we were still accepted by them despite of our mistake.) Do not take the spirit of relationship away from our belief. Religion is cold not cool…. Since Jesus is back with the Father, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to show us that we are still the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus every time we fail. The Holy Spirit is not here to point out believers’ sin but our righteousness in Christ; because in God’s eye, He sees no sin in believers’ life. What the believers need most is the conviction of His righteousness. This is how we stand up after our fall. It takes more faith for us to believe that we are righteous and we can go without any faith to know that we are a sinner. Think about it….

iv) And in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
The judgment is meant for the Devil, the prince of this world not the believers….

There is a funny phenomenal in the “crazymatic” circle; some believers can be interpreted and addressed by religious people as devil, goat or wolf when these "victims" made mistake. While Jesus, their Savior called them sheep. With all sorts of crazy idea coming in, a beautiful passage can also be turned into a judgmental passage which kills off numerous sheep that Jesus had called in. What a conspiracy….

The Holy Spirit never convicts believers of their sin. He is here to convict us of our righteousness. The reason why the Holy Spirit does not convict believers of their sin because as far as Father God is concerned, sin is a settled issue two thousands year ago，and we have already received Jesus as our Saviour. He remembers our sins no more and He will never leave us and never forsake us. So,...

Don't make Him a Liar.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies. The Cookies is enriched with White Chocolate

Penny made these cookies yesterday afternoon and she brought a container of these cookies to Crossway Bookstore, while I went to have my hair cut just opposite Crossway. The worship team were having their practice in the Upper Room and they are blessed with these cookies. Kevin, our anointed keyboardist, thought that these cookies were from Famous Amos and Elder Tom was fast to point out that it's from Famous Penny...

Have You Graduated From Kindergarten?

The Bible says those who are still an infant can only drink milk and unable to eat solid food and is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. Whereas those who are mature eat solid food and they have constant use of the righteousness have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Milk is the product from a mammal. Lets us use cow as an example. If you drink milk, you only need the cow to produce. The cow is happy and you are happy. But if you eat of it’s meat (solid food), it takes the life of a cow to give you beef! Understand the difference? When you eat meat, somebody will have to die! It’s the cow.

When infant drink of its milk, the cow is not killed and the blood is not shed. It is actually the shadow of a religion under an inferior covenant, of which, is a duplication of religious principle where sin is not a settled issue and needed constant reminder for repentance. Therefore, an infant has to be taught over and over again on the repentance of the acts that led to death. It is all about their effort, their behavior, and their right conducts, their approach towards God and their personal holiness so to speak. The infants have been bound with lots of rules and regulations; on you cannot do this or you cannot do that, you cannot fellowship with certain group of people, you cannot eat this and you cannot eat that…. you cannot, you cannot....

The scenario is just like the kindergarten our kids used to go to. The problem with the infant is that, even there are time that kids will be graduated from the kindergarten, those infant are still there years after years. These infant are not taught to be Jesus conscious; they are not make to understand what Jesus had done for them on the cross and worst of all, they have been led to misunderstand the Holy Spirit…

Those who are taught with the teaching of righteousness are bold to make Jesus their righteousness and they do not trust in their flesh to produce self righteousness. They understand that through Jesus finished work on the cross, all the sin issues had been settled. They look to Jesus for their holiness, their righteousness, their wisdom and their provision.

Isaiah said of our righteous acts are like filthy rags while Apostle Paul considered his achievements through self righteousness as dung. And interestingly, the meaning of flirty rug in Hebrews is sanitary napkin….

Therefore, before God considers us as mature, we need to constantly use His righteousness. Before we can constantly use His righteousness, we need to establish ourselves in His righteousness. Before we can be established in His righteousness, we need to establish ourselves in His grace. Sorry, it is about grace again, no place for law keeping. And if we want to be established in His grace, we need to rest in Him and received from Him. Before we can rest in Him, we must understand what He meant by “It’s finished!”

Whenever we try to perform to justify ourselves, we are alienated from Him and fallen away from His grace. In other words, we are saying, “Jesus, You have not done a good job, You are a liar, Your finished work is not actually finished. You still have something for me to do.” Let’s put it short, no human effort, it’s all about His finished work.

To have meat (solid food) as our food, we have to kill and killing involves with shedding of blood. Those who are mature can eat meat because they have taken full advantage of a sledded animal. Because of this reason, those who are mature are able to take full advantage of Jesus’ death and depend on His righteousness. Our Lord Jesus had been slain on the cross and His blood had been shed. He was made sin to die on the cross so that we can be made righteous. Have we taken full advantage of His death and depend on Him for our righteousness?

Christianity was born out of the death and the shed Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever approaches Christianity without recognizing His death and His Blood or bypassing His death and His Blood is defined as religious. Anyone who stays in the realm of religion is still an infant while the mature is about taking full advantage of the death and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ without shame.

Have you graduated from kindergarten? Or you are a teacher in a kindergarten...?

Hey Alan, the Bible says solid food you know, not meat…..

Well, an infant is unable to take bread as well. Think about it, the process of making bread is also signifying the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be a bread, you have to go through grinding of the grain, pounding, kneading of the dough, make into shape and to be baked in a high temperature oven… He said, "I am the Bread of Life!" Didn't He?

Knowledge Of The Cross

Two months ago I read about man initially eating only the fruits from the tree. It was until after the flood during the time of Noah that God began to instruct man to eat meat. This reading remains a knowledge to me until I have watched Louie Giglio’s series of Indescribable and How Great is our God.

Indescribable

As I have said, this serie have blown up my mind. It was a blown up in a good way to enable fresh revelations of our Lord to reveal in my peanut size brain.

Man was originally ordained to eat fruits in the Garden of Eden. As man sin, God killed an animal and clothed Adam with the skin of the animal. That was the first killing done in the Garden of Eden. The world since then, started to deteriorate with their sinfulness until it was so corrupted that God had to send floods to judge the world.

It was a brand new beginning for the world after that flood. God began to ordain meat eating for the first time in the history of mankind with the condition that man must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. Therefore, this ordinance involves with killing of the animals and shedding of blood and or course, man had to kill the animals themselves.

This killing and shedding of blood is a sign that point to the scarification of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Indeed, eating is the most basic necessity in human life. Maybe this is how the word “Diet” came from… The life span of the human race was greatly shortened after the flood. This ordinance of meat eating with the consciousness of the scarification of our Lord is helping to substantialize the dying process of mankind! ... Maybe only lah, this is what I think, Ok!!!….

When God first ordained meat eating to mankind, killing of innocent life started which is a big pointer to the innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. If mankind can see from this prospect, who can say they do not know the Gospel? Our Lord’s body was broken and His blood was shed and we have these two elements as our communion to remember Him and to proclaim to the world of His death until He comes.

From the history of mankind until now, none of the animals are willing to die to be our food. They all struggled and moaned for their life unwillingly. The killing of animals is actually a domestic affair. In my parents' time or during my childhood, almost every family kill animals to get food out of them. Today, the world has commercialized the process and water down this big pointer. We all buy dead chicken, and meat from cold storage or butcher. It is the witnessing of the dying process that lead us to have the knowledge of the cross where our Lord was scarified.

Look at our Lord Jesus, He suffered the process of death on our behalf but the death could not kill Him, He gave up His life willingly for us. He even said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” He forgives us and gave up His life willingly for us.

My eating time become meaningful now because of the knowledge of the cross. Thank you Jesus….

Don't Make Him A Liar (Part 2)

Holy Communion was ordained by God for the believers to remember Jesus’ finished work at the cross and to proclaim to the world the Lord’s death until He comes. Communion is so important in God’s eye that, Jesus Himself had to reveal this element personally to Paul, the Apostle of grace. Why Apostle of grace? Why not the eleven Apostles who lived day in and day out with Him?

Obviously, grace is the foundation and He needed a man who was a Pharisee of Pharisees, and converted by grace to expound this important truth. Indeed, believers need to be established in grace before any truth of this element can be revealed. His finished work at the cross was a glorious act that all beings in heavens stood still to witness His magnificent act. His death on the cross is the theme of heavens. Therefore, communion is all about remembering Jesus, His finished work at the cross and the celebration of His death.

This truth can never be revealed in a legalistic and a religious environment. Legalist and religious people are bound with negative mentality and they are so self-conscious that they can only see their own short coming, their own sin and their failure.

When Apostle Paul used the word “unworthy”; he meant the manner we partake the communion. Is our manner glorifying the magnificent act of Jesus? Are we glorifying Him when we come to the Table? Is our sin an unsettle issue? Are we made righteous because He was sacrificed at the cross? Are we blessed because He was hung on the tree? It is the manner of how we response to His magnificent work when we partake, not how worthy we are. Without His Body and Blood, nobody is worthy, including me!

Legalists and religious people are concerned of their behavior, their right standing with God and the way to approach God. They really come to the Lord’s Table with sincere heart. So they come before the Table confessing their sin. Ignorantly, they sin big time when they partake the Lord’s body because confession of sin before partaking is an unworthy manner. They are not recognizing the body of the Lord; they are recognizing their own body. By doing so, they are actually proclaiming to the world that Jesus did not do a good job on the cross or Jesus had not die yet, because their sins still remain. But the truth is; Jesus said “It’s finished...!” I rather believe in Jesus then those religious people.

Come to the Lord’s Table boldly knowing that all your sin, past, present and future had been forgiven. Give glory to His magnificent work on the cross and proclaim His death to the world and knowing that He will be back! He has prepared a Table for you in front of your enemies. This is the Place where your victories are waiting...

Don't make Him a lair.

The Tree of Life

This post was originally part of the posting in “A Mail from Jacky” posted on 1st August 2008. As I still received revelation concerning the Tree of Life, I felt led to take this potion out from that post and post as a separate title.

The message preached by Pastor Joshua Lee on the 13th July 2008 was a heart revolutionizing message as it touches on Christian's approach on their conducts in everyday life. So we start with the question whether we are drawing our source from the Tree of Life or The tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil?

As for me, I don’t think I ever put a thought on this subject even though I have been a Christian for almost nine years; and because of this ignorant, even though I know I have been enlightened by grace, here and there, I still find myself bound by my own weaknesses.

I realize that as long as you dwell in the grace of God, the grace of God and His faithfulness will bring you deeper into His truth because you just cannot be stagnant but grow in grace. You are just like flowing in His river. I also realize that this is part of the process of growing in grace. Significantly, a Christian needs to be established in grace before this kind of message can take any effect because a truth is built on a truth. If you are legalistic, the focus is on your effort and thus, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is your source. Grace is contradicted to the legalism’s approach, so as the Tree of The knowledge of Good and Evil.

A legalism is earth bound and is restricted by the conduct of doing right or wrong, of which, the root is eating from the Tree of The knowledge of Good and Evil. If Christianity is to do good and avoid doing wrong, then Christianity is the same as any other religions. Every Christian knows that Christianity is not a religion but relationship with Jesus, and in spite of that knowledge, Christian still follow the worldly system or religious way of doing right and avoid doing wrong.

What is Christianity then? Will the real Christianity, please stand up! Christianity is depending on Jesus instead of human effort and Christianity is about eating from the Tree of Life. Jesus said He came to give life and life more abundantly! Praise God, if Jesus did not call me out from the legalistic environment I was in, I will never have the revelation on the importance of eating from the Tree of Life. I will still be living my Christian life religiously, continue to be taught with the earthly way of how to do right and how to avoid doing wrong (of which, we could not, of course..). Or even continue to make Jesus as my example, so that I can be a better man….

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the words of Christ. If preaching is not based on the grace of God, then there will be no faith to rise up to that level to approach the Tree of Life. Ignorantly, legalists have preached Christian away from the grace of God and make them fallen away from His grace by their justification of good works.

The following passage from the Book of Hebrews caught my attention for quit a long time already and only now I begin to understand what this passage means.

Hebrews 5: 11 ~14: We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil!

The passage continue with, “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on the hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so."

If only we can read these passages ourselves without the interference of the legalistic preachers, it is so clear that the teaching on the foundation of repentance from acts is the elementary teachings. It is not about learning to do good or bad, it is to distinguish good from evil. Learning to do good or avoid evil cannot make us distinguish good from evil. We need to be established in grace so as to have the ability to distinguish good from evil. The good and evil here means whether the teaching of God's word is filtered through the cross or not.

The purpose of the forgiveness of sin from God is not for us to start a new sinless life ourselves but to make us have the confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus so that we can draw from the Tree of Life. Through the cross, we have already been reconciled; we have already been made righteous and we are already one with Him in Christ. So let us move on to enter with boldness!

These passages bring out another issue; i.e. the knowledge of righteousness is not milk but solid food. Therefore, the knowledge of righteousness is for the mature not for the infant. We can only be established with the teaching about righteousness through His grace. We have to settle the issue of sin once and for all that we are made righteous by His grace through faith. This righteousness is about His righteousness not our righteousness. Our righteousness is described as filthy rags by the Bible. When we understand what His righteousness is, we will know that teaching on the foundation of repentance from acts is elementary. It’s finished! Or else, we will continue to drink our milk.

Therefore, humble ourselves knowing that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The proud in God's eye are those who depend on themselves and the humble are those who draw from Him. Knowing also that grace is with the truth. If we think that grace is not with the truth, then we will never find our way to the Tree of Life.

Humble yourself before God not before legalism. Start to believe that Jesus loves you and He had done everything on the cross just for you. If you guard this little faith in you, you will know His grace and you will be set free.

The purpose of His forgiveness is not for you to start your new sinless life yourself; His forgiveness is for you to have the boldness to enter into His grace.

Don't Make Him A Liar (Part 1)

Jesus died on the cross to redeem us from our sin two thousand years ago. He took away all the sins of the world and after He was gloried, He gave His Holy Spirit to those who believed in Him. The Holy Spirit dwells in us believers, and He promised He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Psalm 51 is a beautiful Psalm, but it is not the Psalm for our day. King David, the author of this Psalm was under an inferior covenant, who did not have the Holy Spirit dwell in him but on him. Thus, the Holy Spirit leaved him when he sin. David, a man after God’s heart, knew that God is merciful and there is grace with God. Psalm 51 was his petition to the gracious God he knew. He long to be in the new covenant like us when he prophesied in Psalm 32 verse 1 & 2 that, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

We are under a better covenant because of what Jesus had done on the cross. The precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ has made us so clean that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us. The Father had forgiven us of all our sin, past, present and future, confirmed by our Lord's shout of , "It 's finished!" on the cross. He remembers our sin no more! So if you are a born again Christian, I am sorry to tell you that He cannot hear you confessing your sin because He cannot be a lair, He had promised that He remembers our sin no more...!

Do not make Him a liar.

Under the Covenant

This video is about the own goal by John Arne Riise at the very last minutes of the injury time during 07/08 UEFA Champions League first leg semi final match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Chelsea held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw because of Riise's own goal in their away match and went on to win their qualification to the final of 07/08 UEFA Champions League. However, Chelsea was not the European Champions.

John Anre Riise's own goal

As for their match with Liverpool, I was somehow; fully convinced that Chelsea miraculously escaped that lost because of their Russian Jews Owner and their Jewish Manager. The Jews are still under the covenant that God promised Abraham and to date, their blessings still stand. Look at that match again, what else can it be other than God’s blessing. In the 07/08 session, Chelsea was spared from numerous defeats in their crucial matches.

Nevertheless, their Owner and Manager are still under the old covenant, this old covenant, which was obsoleted by Jesus on the cross two thousand years ago, is unable to prevail them over to their final victory as they were runner up in FA Community Shield, Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Football League Cup in 07/08 session. What a year of football for Chelsea.

The Captain of Chelsea miss a Penalty in Champions League Final

Believe it or not, if only their Owner and Manager are under the new covenant, which is a better covenant, they would have won themselves some silverwares for their shelves because the Bible says not by might nor by power (nor by wealth added by me) but by His Spirit.

Worship Ministry Retreat Meeting

SIB Grace Worship Ministry held it's Retreat Meeting with Church's Elders at Kaya & Toast this afternoon after the Sunday Service. We are planning to go to Santubong Resort for our Retreat on 17th to 18th of October.

Photographer: Norman Hiu

A Mail From Jacky

Today, we received a mail from Jacky containing a message CD by Pastor Joshua Lee entitled "The Tree Of Life or The Tree of The Knowledge of Good & Evil". This message was preached while we were in Singapore on 13th July 2008. Surprisingly, this CD reaches us without any obstruction from the authority concern. Maybe once in a while, we can ask friend in Singapore to sent message CD via post or even we can consider subscribing message CD online.

Adrian (Left) and Jacky (Right) are enjoying Donut @ Donut Factory in Suntac City Mall
Photo taken by Norman.

Jacky is now working in Singapore and he is attending the New Creation Church. He just signed up as a Royal Steward in NCC while we were there in Singapore. We encouraged him and prophesied that he will be the Head of the Royal Steward so that next time when we attend New Creation Church's Sunday Service, he is in the position to grant us special favor for by-passing the long queue.